J'adore!

While Paris started out with a meap*, it was more than worth it.
In order to save money, Claire and I (with our Eurail passes of course) planned on taking the train to Paris while the other girls went by plane. It was a smart and noble idea. Cost efficient to say the least..or so I thought.
Unbeknownst to us, all of Italy was also planning a weekend vaca in Parigi, thus overbooking all trains from Wednesday through Sunday. Claire and I had planned on leaving Thursday.


Convinced I was not going to Paris, ergo not spending any money over the weekend, I sought out self-medication in the form of retail therapy and found comfort in my favorite vintage shop near the Academia. In my opinion it holds the fastest recovery rate!


However, upon returning home, I found one-way flight from Rome to Paris for $200 (USD). Desperate to walk under the Christmas lights of the Champs-Elysees (Kaleigh absolutely insisted) and get some Gillie time in with Kim and Linda, I raced back to the train station, booked a train from Florence to Rome for Thursday and a train from Paris to Florence on Sunday (apparently the Italians were not concerned with returning to their homeland. All trains back to Florence were completely open), raced back to the apartment and booked my flight. I am still shocked that everything worked out the way it did. No luggage lost, no connections missed. Definitely a defining yet surprising experience.


Paris itself was incredible. Our Hostel, St. Christopher's Inn, is part of the "World's Famous Hostels" where you can "sleep with someone famous" (implying the hostel of course).  A waterfront view and cotton ball-filled pillows....Truly a magnificent juxtaposition if you ask me.


Day 1 was spend with Kim and Linda. We roamed around Sacred Coeur, snacked on baguettes and pastries and spent some quality time with our new love Youri. If by some change you happen to google Youri-music and find yourself watching an awkward music video attempt reminiscent of Enrique Iglesias meets daytime TV cheese, please do not judge him. His live performances are quite impressive. After Sacre Coeur, we entered the festive christmas market on the Champs-Elysees, drinking hot wine and getting the greatest head massages of my life....a gadget I bought the following day. As we made our way past the stores, we ambitiously climbed the 284 steps up Arc de Triomphe to watch the Eiffel Tower light show. AH-mazing. Even more so, when I found out Maria, Al and Katie were the Eiffel Tower at that moment, hating life. 




Day 2, Hilliary and I soaked up Paris and roamed around the Marais district. We peeked in some vintage stores, found a My Berry, (died! SO good. Definitely awoke need for Frog Berry. Counting down the days....sort of) inadvertently ventured into Passage Du Desir (a "love" shop we thought was a little knick-knack store from the window-front), and even had an awkward conversation with the artist/designer of an art gallery/apparel boutique. While the artist mainly did screen-printing on canvas,  including a collage detailing with scraps from magazine and newspaper clippings, he also had a rack of screen-printed shirts. After telling us he was moving to Denmark for his girlfriend, he informed us that he was having a last call sale. SO I bought a pop culture collage shirt which featured Edie Sedgwick three times. (So I didn't really have any other choice BUT to purchase it) Our brief and semi-uncomfortable conversation with the artist went as follows


Hil: Oh so you're moving to Denmark
Artist: Yep. My girlfriend's sick of Paris
Hil: Do you have a website? We really love your work.
Artist: No. Not anymore.
Hil: Oh...
Artist: Blank stare
....
Me: (looking at a canvas) Your work is incredible. I wish I lived in Paris. Its so sad finding such beautiful things here. 
Artist: why?
Me: I don't know, I guess mainly because shipping something so big is so expensive. It is, isn't it?
Artist: Well no. (insulted) The artwork is expensive. The shipping is not. Its not just some decoration. I ship all the time to the States.
Me: Oh...
Artist: Blank stare


The plan for the evening was dinner at La Refuge Des Fondue and clubbing at Queen....we didn't make it past dinner. La Refuge Des Fondue is a magical experience from the community seating, to the wine served in baby bottles. The 5 of us shared an oil fondue for the meat and potatoes, and a cheese fondue. After befriending our neighbors down the table, the plan was to all reconnect up at Queen. However, 2 baby bottles of wine really can get to a girl. Upon returning to the hostel to change and go out, Al came up with the wonderful idea of taking a quick nap. A foolish idea (or so Katie thought) at 11 PM. Therefore our wine and "quick nap" turned into a obvious nightcap. It was not until 2 AM that I awoke to Hilliary. "Jenna. Jenna. Jenna." "Ya?" "It's 2 AM. We overslept".
Truth be told, it was probably for the best. Sunday would have been a tragic attempt at life, had we stayed out till 6 in the morning.




Day 3 was a peaceful exploration back up to Sacred Coeur, where we all indulged (minus Al with her green soup) in French onion soup. The greatest soup I've ever had in my life. I literally had a dream about it on the train ride home, which speaking of, was very enjoyable. I stayed in a little 6 bed-nook, befriending 3 very friendly and lively Austrialians. Completely forgetting to grab food for the 8-hour ride, my new friends shared both their picnic as well as some in-depth life stories. Very entertaining to say the least.


All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. While the trip itself broke the bank, in the end it was definitely worth it.... in fact I think I'm ready to go back.


REFERENCE:

*Meap |mēp|
verb ( past or past part. Meaped |mēpt|or meapt |mept|)
The act of getting owned by a European transportation system. 

(Thank you Katie for making our coined phrase so official)